Stacy Head campaign mailer came too late for her opponent to respond

The final days of a political campaign often are reserved for dirty tricks, from vicious attack mailers that arrive anonymously to lower-temperature versions that, while claimed by candidates, come so late that opponents have no time to respond.

Stacy Head, left, and Cynthia Willard-Lewis

New Orleans City Council member Stacy Head, who won last Saturday's runoff for an at-large seat on the council by fewer than 300 votes, employed the latter strategy, firing an eleventh-hour, multipronged assault against her opponent, Cynthia Willard-Lewis.

The front of the glossy mailer featured a large photo of Willard-Lewis, a former council member and state legislator, beneath the question: "Why is this career politician smiling?" The answer supplied by the Head campaign was: "Because her next position could be MAYOR of New Orleans."

On the back side, the piece repeated the "career politician" label and noted that Willard-Lewis "has made hundreds of thousands of dollars as an elected official," failing to note that the money came in the form of salaries for her jobs, or that Head, as a council member since 2006, has herself been paid more than $300,000.

The Head flier also listed the nine political races Willard-Lewis has run since 1993, noting that she had lost three of the last four contests before last weekend's runoff.

As for the flier's suggestion that a Willard-Lewis victory might have put her in position to become the mayor "in 2014," that ignored one obvious fact: Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who endorsed Willard-Lewis, is, at this point, considered a heavy favorite to win a second term in 2014.

Willard-Lewis backed Landrieu in his failed bid to oust Mayor Ray Nagin in 2006, and it is hard to imagine a scenario in which she would oppose her longtime ally two years from now.

Of course, should Landrieu die or resign while in office, the City Charter provides that the five district council members will choose one of the two at-large members to succeed him, meaning that anyone elected to the at-large spot is, in a sense, possibly poised to become mayor.

In fairness, Willard-Lewis engaged in some truth-bending of her own during the campaign, such as airing a TV commercial charging Head with voting to double "her own salary."

Head in fact voted in 2009 to boost council members' pay from $42,500 to $83,500, but the change did not take effect immediately. It applied only to City Council members elected in 2010, meaning voters could decide who would get the benefit of the raise. Because Head was easily re-elected, she now is receiving the higher salary.

Willard-Lewis, who was barred by term limits from seeking another term to her District E seat in 2010, voted against the raise.